ART. 10 BIRDS OF PINCHOT EXPEDITION FISHER AND WETMORE 51 



On one of the trips which Mr. Cleaves made to the upper reaches 

 of Cocos Island, he saw swallows and swifts flying over a broad, 

 grassy open stretch of country. In the absence of specimens it is 

 hard to conjecture to just what species these birds belonged. Some 

 day when material is forthcoming this interesting problem will be 

 solved. 



ERIBATES MAGNIROSTRIS (Gould) 



Galapagos flycatcher 



MyioWus magnirostris Gould, Zool. Voy. Beagle, vol. 3, Birds, July, 1839, 

 p. 48, pi. 8. (Chatham Island, Galapagos Archipelago.) 



Of the three skins obtained, one was collected on Indefatigable 

 Island June 24, and two on Duncan Island June 26, 1929. This 

 little flycatcher was first observed on Indefatigable Island and later 

 at Duncan, Charles, Chatham, and Hood. In action it suggests the 

 crested flycatcher, and in size appears as if one of the smaller 

 flycatchers had assumed the dress of its larger relatives. The species 

 is very tame and appears anxious to get a better understanding 

 of the human who has entered its domain. On one occasion while 

 the senior author was pointing with a short stick to a distant canyon, 

 one of these little birds flew from a near-by branch and alighted on 

 the stick, as though it desired to be in closer touch with the visitors. 



NESOTRICCUS RIDGWAYI Townsend 



Cocos Island flycatcher 



Nesoti-iccus Ridrjicayi Townsend, Bull. Mus. Comp. ZoiJl., vol. 27, 1895, p. 124, 

 <eol. pi. (Cocos Island.) 



Three skins taken at Wafer Bay, Cocos Island, June 10, 1929, 

 by A. K. Fisher, include a male, a female, and one with sex not 

 marked. The female is especially interesting, since Ridgway ^^ in 

 his review of North and Central American flycatchers in 1907 in dis- 

 cussing this insular species noted that the female was not known 

 The skin from the Pinchot expedition collection is generally similar 

 to the male, but is slightly less yellowish below and is distinctly 

 smaller. 



The two skins with sex marked measure as follows : 



Male, wing, 61.7 ; tail, 56.5 ; culmen from base, 16.9 ; tarsus, 21.0 mm. 



Female, wing, 57.3; tail, 52.3; culmen from base, 15.3; tarsus, 

 20.5 mm. 



At Cocos, frequent showers made precipitation all but continuous, 

 and this, added to the thick, tangled undergrowth, made land bird 

 collecting very difficult. On the last day, before leaving the island, 

 considerable time was spent in the low ground in the vicinit}'^ of 



^^ Ridgway, Birds Nortli and Middle America, pt. 4, 1907, p. 483. 



